


The Curious Case of a Missing Jacket

by rufferto



Category: Black Sails
Genre: Billy's Jacket, Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining, Romance, a little angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-13
Updated: 2016-05-13
Packaged: 2018-06-08 03:23:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6837076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rufferto/pseuds/rufferto
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Billy's Jacket was made by his mum, he gets anxious when it's missing and it goes missing often. Who keeps taking it??? Will Billy ever find out?<br/>Just some ridiculous fluff with a sprinkle of angst I wrote today. Cause you can't have fluff in Black Sails w/o the angst.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Curious Case of a Missing Jacket

Billy closed his eyes and pinched his nose in frustration. It had been unbearably hot in the past week so either he was shirtless, or he only wore a thin top. He was hot and tired and cranky, a bad combination in any situation. He pulled out a rag and washed the back of his neck. Flint had been especially irritating that morning and he felt like a caged bear.

He didn’t know how much more he could take. Flint was a man of so many contradictions. It was as confusing as it was intriguing. Unfortunately, it was also driving him crazy.

He wanted the man. He was secure enough to know that, but he was also just utterly done with the crazy. He wanted his captain back. The man who hadn’t been broken over a ship full of gold. He wanted Flint to return to himself. He wanted a lot of things but ultimately, at this very moment, he wanted to know who in the hell kept taking his jacket.

It wasn’t that he needed it, it was just the last thing he had from home and if whoever took it didn’t get it back to him this time, Billy didn’t know what he’d do. His mother had made that jacket. Sometimes, if he closed his eyes he could still smell the ink from the shop he’d lived at before he was press-ganged.

As usual, the jacket returned later that afternoon while he was up on the rigging. He never got the chance to see who it was. That was why he suspected said person had an accomplice. Someone on the crew was messing with him. Billy sighed and picked it up. He held it close to his chest for a moment and frowned. He shook out the jacket and inspected it for anything untoward. The only clue as to where it had been was a small hair on the inside collar.

Billy pulled it off and studied it. Eventually he managed to determine that the hair was ginger colored. There was only one ginger on the ship. Billy stared, it could not be possible. The Captain? He set the jacket on his trunk and sighed. Fuck, of all the confusing things to do! Billy wracked his brains trying to think about the previous times his jacket had gone missing. Every three or so months, really. No, it couldn’t be Flint.

Billy ran a hand through his hair. Jesus. If it was Flint, what was he DOING with it? Did he wear it? Did he cuddle it? Did he sniff it? The more Billy thought about it the more he wanted to know and the harder it was to pretend indifference whenever Flint was around. His body became somewhat warm as he thought about these things and the fact that someone else knew. Someone helped Flint steal the jacket.

That evening at dinner he peered around at the crew cautiously. No one was looking at him differently. The Captain was eating at his usual spot with Joji nearby and Silver across from him. Billy normally sat with the crew but tonight he simply picked up his plate and headed over to that table. He gave Flint an almost challenging look as if to dare him to tell him not to sit.

Flint and Silver exchanged glances and both shrugged. Billy set his plate down and grunted.  Whatever conversation they were having continued.

Thus it began. Billy would join them now, every evening and no explanation of his behavior was ever given or asked for. He sometimes participated in the conversation but most of the time he was taking the opportunity to observe Flint.

He was changed, remarkably so. Somehow Silver had managed to calm him down to relative sanity and he would never know how grateful Billy was for that.

One evening he overheard Silver talking to Flint while the cabin door was still open. “You’re going to have to tell him, one day.” Silver had pressed the man.

“What good would that do?” Flint sounded almost wistful. “That ship has sailed, John. Maybe once there was a chance but he clearly hates me now. I can’t blame him for that.”

“Hates you?” Silver laughed harshly. “Open your eyes, will you? It’s almost pathetic the way you two dance around each other. He did join us finally. I was wondering when he would. He hates being left out of your line of sight as much as you hate him not being where you can see him. I’m not blind, you know. I didn’t lose an eye. He’s so desperate for your approval and you don’t even see it.”

Billy cringed, they were talking about him. Isn’t that the folly of every eavesdropper? It’s always about you?

“It’s not going to happen,” Flint’s voice became soft and melancholy. “He deserves better than me, anyway.”

“Listen to yourself!” Silver scoffed. “I saw Joji bring you his jacket. If you would just talk to him like you talked to me. …”

“It’s different with you, you understand me.” Flint shrugged.  “You’re the only one who does, now.”

“I shouldn’t be. More people should. You need to talk to him, James. Really talk to him, like you talk to me. He’ll understand, you don’t give him enough credit.”

“Understand what? He thinks I let him fall. He knows I killed a man who was his mentor. What’s there to talk about?” Flint’s voice became somewhat irritated. Clearly Silver could only prod him so far.

“You’re wrong if you think that’s the reason for his behavior.” Silver argued. “He hasn’t got a clue what your feelings are. You’ve pushed him away and denied him the chance to know you. When he thinks no one is looking, you’re the one he looks at.”

“Now /that’s/ wishful thinking.” Flint laughed shortly, “Stop trying to fix us and let’s focus on the job at hand.”

Billy decided just then to let his presence at the open door be known. He shoved it open unceremoniously and let it bang against the wall. He stood there, dwarfing the frame as he stared at the pair of them.

“Oh, good lord.” Silver muttered. “I forgot to close the door.”

Flint placed the paper on his desk and regarded the tall man impassively.

“Get out.” Billy snapped at Silver. His fists were clenched at his sides and he refused to look at Flint directly for the moment. “Or I’ll throw you out.” And he meant it.

Silver raised his eyebrows and pointed out mildly, “You’re in the way.” He moved toward the door and waited.

Billy stepped to the side and let him through.

“Give him a chance,” Silver gave Billy a sigh as he limped out and shut the door firmly behind him.

Billy turned around and stared at the door when it shut. His back to Flint now, he stood there for several minutes, simply controlling his feelings.  “Why should I?” He asked the door.

Behind him, Flint remained at his desk, expression taut. “I am not going to bite your head off, turn around, Billy.”

Billy did so and stalked the desk. He sat down in the chair Silver had just vacated and folded his arms across his chest. He finally looked directly at Flint, probably for the first time in a long while. The man looked different, Billy noticed. He was less hostile, almost mellow and there was something different in his eyes. They were aware now, of everything around him. Not since before Singleton, had he seen his eyes look like that. “Captain?” his voice was a whisper.

“So, now you know. I take it you heard most of that conversation?” Flint poured both of them some rum.

Billy didn’t take his, emotion warring in his eyes. “Yes.”

“What do you want to do about it?”  Flint drank. His expression became slightly apprehensive. It was the first time Billy had ever seen him look almost vulnerable.

“Why the jacket?” Billy blurted out, face slightly red. “I mean… Why did you never say anything? My Jacket has been disappearing for YEARS, Captain. Years. It was Joji all this time?”

Flint had the grace to look slightly embarrassed. “Joji got it for me once when he saw me drinking too much.  Since it had a tendency to calm me down, he’s been doing it ever since.”

“What do you do with it?” Billy demanded.

“Mostly … I just hold on to it.” Flint admitted with a small laugh. “It reminds me of what I could have had.”

“Me? Why?” Billy was uncomfortable at the best of times when talking about emotional things.

“Because I can’t have you.” Flint shrugged.

“Why not?” Billy cocked his head to the side curiously.

Flint’s eyes shot upwards and then squinted at Billy slightly. “What do you mean? Lots of reasons why not.”

“Not really.” Billy shook his head, “If you wanted me that badly, all you really had to do was ask, you know?”

Flint stared at him as if he had grown a third eye.  Finally he sighed, “So, here we are then.”

Billy finally reached for the extra mug Flint had poured and downed it. The silence between stretched into something uncomfortable. “Why can’t you talk to me?”

“I am talking to you…” Flint gave him a disgruntled look.

“You talk to Silver, you trust him. You’ve known me longer and you can’t talk to me. You trust me. Yet you…won’t talk to me.” Billy flailed a hand at him.  “…and I… fuck.” He sighed. “He’s right, hate is a strong word I use because I don’t know how to describe what I feel.”

“Try?” Flint offered mildly.

“I feel like you have a hold on me I can’t shake.” Billy spoke softly. “I feel like…I want to knock down this wall between us with my fists sometimes. I hate it. I hate what made it this way. The things you’ve done. The things I’ve let you do. I… I blame myself.”

“What?” Flint’s eyebrows knotted together. “You’re not to blame for anything, Billy.”

“I lied for you.” Billy swallowed. “I knew it was wrong but I did it for you. Not for the crew, not for anyone else. I did it for you. I lied for you more times than I can count. Sometimes I don’t even know what the truth is anymore.” His hand shook slightly. “I’m not sure of anything at all except one thing.” He looked down. “I probably want you just as much as you want me and we haven’t even begun to address anything.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t?” Flint suggested slowly as he let his eyes settle freely on Billy. “Maybe this is a way for us to move past everything else?”

Billy gave him a rather desperate look. He wanted more than anything to get closer to Flint and tear the wall between them. He stood up abruptly. “Talking isn’t getting us anywhere.”  He exhaled once as Flint did the same.

Flint swallowed. This was the point of no return. If they moved forward, there was no going back. He was the one to move around the desk slowly at first. It took him some time before he got close enough to reach out shakily and finger the material of Billy’s shirt.

Billy swore under his breath and seized Flint’s jacket collar in order to pull it back to reveal the man’s freckled neck. His breath became hitched as every nerve in his body suddenly became super-sensitive. He wanted this more than he had any right to. He leaned down, sniffed at Flint’s skin and with trembling lips, placed a kiss on his neck.

A dam broke then, emotion and need spilled out between them and it was a hurried rush to extract things that would prevent touching. Billy kissed his way up Flint’s neck to his jaw. He nuzzled his nose against his mustache and beard and finally chased and captured his lips.

Billy wondered briefly what his mother would think if she knew the jacket she’d made three sizes too big for him would have led to this. His parents were free thinkers and he felt certain she would want him to be happy, all else aside. He wasn’t sure if he was happy, per se, but kissing Flint was something else entirely. It had released a volcano of heat inside him and knew for sure that he could not contain it or deny it any longer.

When they parted for air, hair was in disarray, shirts were mostly off and both of them were completely dazed.

“Captain…” Billy said softly.

Normally Flint would correct him and beg him to use his name but there was something in the way Billy said Captain that thrilled him.

“Next time you want my jacket, ask for my arms instead.” Billy wrapped both of them around the other man and held him tightly. Billy knew there would be more, and soon, but this was enough. This feeling of being wanted and needed. This knowledge that only he could provide Flint with this refuge in his arms was enough to bring them together.  They would still be at odds on the outside but here, alone together, they could get back to each other through this.

“I’ll keep it in mind,” Flint responded with a chuckle.

Silver had been leaning against the door the entire time, prepared to go in and separate the pair if he had to. Thankfully he didn’t have to. They appeared to be working it out on their own.

“Did you leave the door open on purpose?” Joji asked him with a thoughtful smirk.

“I’ll never tell,” Silver said with a cheeky grin.

*Fin*


End file.
